Introduction:

Liver cirrhosis is the most common cause of blood flow obstruction in the portal venous system. Variceal bleeding is a complication of cirrhosis that defines its decompensation.

Objective:

To establish the correlation between the platelet/spleen index as a predictive factor for esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis treated at the Luis Vernaza Hospital between January 2022 and December 2023.

Methodology:

A retrospective case analysis design was applied. Population: 108 cases of adults with liver cirrhosis were included, with platelet analysis samples and abdominal ultrasound with spleen measurement. Data analysis: To determine whether the platelet/spleen ratio is a predictor of esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients, univariate and bivariate analyses were performed between the variables, yielding predictive power through logistic regression, with established statistical significance (p < 0.05).

Results:

The cutoff point of the platelet/spleen index for predictive value was <909, with a p-value of 0.003, indicating a 3.78 times higher probability of presenting esophageal varices, which in turn increases the hospital stay. The average age was 64 years, with an equal distribution of sexes (50.93% women and 49.07% men), and the most common comorbidity was diabetes mellitus (33.64%). The Child-Pugh C scale was associated with a higher presence of esophageal varices.

Conclusions:

The platelet/spleen index with a cutoff point of <909 predicts the presence of esophageal varices and prolongs hospital stay.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )